Contracts
by Crackdoom
Summary: Wounded and beaten, a troll hunter is saved by a band of elves. Though greatful for their help, he brings whatever injured him to them. First fic. Summery sucks. The story is muuuuch better lol. Rated M for later chapters. Enjoy! R
1. Chapter 1

First fan fiction, hopefully not last. Seemed rushed when writing, again hopefully it isn't. Only people I've had read my stuff are friends and I don't trust em. Anyways, have fun and enjoy ^_^. R&R

Disclaimer: I don't own Warcraft or any of the wonderful things of Blizzard.

Aaaaand we're off!

The underbrush swayed slightly in the waves of breeze that blew through the vegetation. Huffing in painful breathes; a lone troll sprinted through the thick bushes, leaving a light blood trail in his wake. Trying to not create too much of an obvious trail for his pursuers, Zin'auk slowed to be careful not to break the twigs and branches of the bushes and lower trees. Exhausted, Zin flung his bulk against a thick trunk, quieting his breathes to listen for the reasons for his flight. He relaxed after not hearing anything and closed his eyes, sighing in relief.

His mind wandered to his predicament. Why had this gone so wrong? He thought. The safe house he blew was supposed to be full of munitions and should've blown the whole base sky high, but when his Explosive Arrow blew out the southern wall, only a small fire was the result of his efforts. To complicate things, guards had spotted him and scored a hit in his side with a poisoned arrow with a broad tip, awarding a thick stream of blood that nearly refused to clot. After removing the arrow and letting the blood flow, helping to clear the poison in the wound. The wound was unsurprisingly slow to heal and was just now starting to close, still pumping out slow spurts of thick blood.

A twig snap about twenty yards off pulled him out of his thoughts and the haze that threatened to drag him into sleep. They followed me a little slower than I thought, he mused, tricky bastards. Zin slowly pushed himself up and bolted forward with everything he had left in his tired legs. He heard shouts and what sounded like barking not far behind him. Moving without thinking, Zin pulled a trap from his belt that held a couple sticks of explosive with a thick cord coming out of one of the sticks. Zin strode over a dead log and dropped the explosive trap just behind the log. He counted eight seconds in his head before hearing and feeling the explosive going off behind him and listening to more shouts behind him made him grin and chuckle. Had he not been focusing on his brief success, he probably would have noticed the sound of running water below him. The only thing that brought him out of his musings this time was the absence of ground under his feet and the sudden feeling of falling. He reached out to brace for impact, but continued to feel the sensation of falling, the roaring of turning liquid coming up a little too fast for his comfort. Zin looked just in time to see his vision being flooded by water. The instant later his vision, and mind, went blanked, unconsciousness gripping him tightly.

The first thing that came to Zin was the smell: the smell of cooking. He slowly drew in a breath from his nose. Smelling the fresh fish being seared in a pan slammed into his mind, causing his mind to go into a brief moment of bliss. His mind worked on its own in terms of summing up his situation, the presence of cooking meant someone found him and hauled him out of the water. Slowly, his sense of touch came to him and he immediately realized he was bound. His wrists and feet were tied together with course hemp rope, earning him a feverish need to itch those spots. He gritted his teeth and resisted that strong urge.

He also felt the heat of the nearby fire to his front and cold on his back. Zin creaked an eye open to find a figure squatting in front of him, facing towards the fire and tending to the searing fish in the pan. From the shape of the figure, he immediately recognized the form of a male night elf, the thick shoulders and slender waist instantly giving him away. The amazing thing, Zin realized, was that the night elf's presence wasn't and still wasn't felt. Just from that, Zin figured this person wasn't someone he could sweet talk his way out of this. He looked up from the individual in front of him and looked just over the fire and stared directly into the eyes of another night elf staring at him just over the fire. The eyes held him there with a vice like grip, not letting him look away. They had a cat-like shape to them with a soft, silvery glow that captivated Zin. The beauty of the eyes caught him completely off guard. A flare up from the fire broke their staring contest and Zin looked away, rolling slightly backwards.

"Finally awake, I see. I still think we should've gutted you and made an example of you." A feminine voice spoke up when he moved his body for the first time. The voice startled Zin and he jumped a little, causing a light chuckle from the female behind him. He swiveled his head to look over his shoulder to find a third night elf in leathers squatting down next to him and grinning impishly at him. He felt a slight heat rise to his face when he looked at her. She too had very beautiful eyes and a very nice, angular face. Her hair was brought into a thick braid with leaves stuck in it periodically down the length. The color took him off guard as it was silvery white. Her markings over her eyes were simple, only a single slash looking line over each. Night elves always broke out something primal in Zin that he really never could explain, but had and often did indulge in that something when available. The night elf who spoke leaned in close to Zin's face and grinned wider, her eyes moved up and down his form, staying on his backside longer than her felt comfortable. That was when he became painfully aware that he was shirtless, his side wound was bandaged and he felt a dull ache in his left ass cheek. Focusing for a moment on the pain, he recognized it to be a shot wound; one of his pursuers must have clipped him good before the river took him out of range. Thankfully, though, his captures had redressed that part of him.

Zin gazed back at the elf who was still staring at him with a look he didn't really approve of, "If ya wanted whatcha lookin' at, then ya shouldn't of tied me up, sweet cheeks." He winked at her, speeking in fluent Darnassian. The elf's eyes widened and he heard a surprised squeak from across the fire. He laughed at the elves' surprised reactions, getting his desired effect. "Wha? Neva heard a beast like me speak a _civilized_ tongue?"

The female now had a look of rage as he had taken her completely off guard and brought up the butt of a gun and hit him on his bandaged wound, awarding a shuddering gasp from Zin and leaving him twitching in pain. "Be easy with him, Erayla. His suffering was already great without you helping…" The deep, calm voice of the male elf broke through the now heavy atmosphere. The female's expression soften considerably at the voice of the male and she smiled coyly at the male across Zin and then shot Zin a deadly glare before stalking around his prone body and going to sit on the opposite side of the fire with the other elf. Zin sighed and turned back towards the fire.

The male was looking at Zin now, his golden eyes calculative when scanning Zin's face. Great, Zin thought, a druid. Then Zin noticed the symbol of the Cenarian Circle stitched into his shirt sleeve. Now he understood why he was alive and indeed not gutted out by any other night elf, specifically the one called Erayla. He chuckled at his good fortune. The male turned back around and started removing the blackened fish from the pan he was tending to earlier.

"Well, dinner is ready. Erayla, as somewhat of a punishment for earlier, come here and feed our friend. Be nice this time or I'll make you stay up for night watch." The male said with a slightly amused tone.

Erayla pouted at him, "B-but he provoked me!"

"No buts. Get over here."

"Aww…." She sighed and conceded defeat without another word and walked over to Zin. She cut the ties that connected his hands and feet together and sat him up roughly, grabbing one of his tusks to stabilize him until he gained enough balance. She scowled at him, "Stay upright, if you fall, I'm not getting you back up."

Zin growled back at her, having to sit slightly off kilter because of his wounded rump. Before he could fire a retort her way, she shoved a piece of fish into his face, startling him and nearly making him fall over, but he managed to stay upright. She looked at him over the hunk of fish with a scowl, "Eat." She said it flatly without emotion.

"Dun ya tink ya should break it up a leetle? I'm not the savage ya tink I am." He said, now in Common, with slight distain and further hoping to punish her.

Erayla groaned audibly and tore off a piece of the fish to feed him by hand, which surprised him that she didn't just shove the fish down his throat. She kept the food on her finger tips, almost afraid to touch the troll, especially his lips. Zin took the food greedily, chewing and swallowing slowly, the pain in his side not letting him gorge. He was able to eat the fish relatively quickly though. She lifted a water skin to his lips and he drank hastily. He sighed contently and leaned back, bracing himself on his palms behind him.

Erayla sighed in relief, a little more than disgusted with having to feed Zin. She wiped her hands on her pant legs and stood while turning around in one fluid motion to gaze over at the other two night elves. Zin followed her stare and noticed the night elf whom he locked eyes earlier was a female like Erayla. Her hair was the same color, but she left hang loosely across her shoulders. The markings on this one were different, also. These were much more intricate, looking more like the wings of a butterfly. Besides the slight differences between the two females, they were almost exact copies of the other. He guessed they were related, sisters even. Other than seeing the female for the first time, he noticed she and the druid were now sitting together, the female leaning against him. He glanced at Erayla's face and noticed obvious discomfort in her features. Cocking a hairless eyebrow, Zin wondered what could this mean. Erayla suddenly whimpered softly and sat down slowly, just a few feet off from Zin and began eating her dinner, looking into the fire the whole time.

Zin sighed softly and waited for her to eat, which took a while since she was in obvious distress. Once she finally stopped eating, Zin nudged her with his foot. She snapped her head at him, a little wetness in her eyes. "I gotta pee," He flatly replied to her wordless question.

She glared at him, almost making him believe fire was actually going to erupt out of her orbs and kill him then and there. She did this for much longer than he was comfortable with, but eventually stood up to ask the male to do it. When she looked over to them, they were much closer now and the female was just short of throwing herself at the male. Erayla stared at them in a trance, not moving other than fidgeting with her hands. Zin shook his head and cleared his throat loudly to break her out of her stupor. She turned, flustered and even more annoyed. "Get up," she hissed at him.

"I can't," he replied, not feeling threatened by her too much, though that gun not too far away didn't help him relax and his eye darted to it and back before continuing, "Mah legs be bound, woomon." He increased his accent to tease her.

She roughly cut the binds on his legs and picked up her blunderbuss, attaching a thick, wide blade to end of it. The sight of the blade made Zin a little uneasy. She walked over and hauled him to his feet and pricked her blade into his back and flatly said, "Walk."

Zin was more than happy to oblige and walked a little ahead of her as they went into the trees. He looked around him and instantly recognized where he was, Ashenvale. The thick trees and lush greenery made Ashenvale one of Zin's more favored places to soak his lines, but unfortunately he wasn't on vacation. They walked deep into the brush, the fire only a twinkling glint through the trees now.

"Stop, go here." She muttered under breath something else under her breath that Zin didn't quite catch. He shrugged and jumped, swinging his hands under his legs.

"Gotta unfasten da laces, mon," he said when she jumped back, startled, and nearly blew his head off. Unfastening his pants, he snaked himself out and leaned behind a tree, keeping himself from being exposed to her. He sighed as he let himself go.

Erayla grimaced when she started heard him relieve himself, sighing and slightly moaning all the way. This troll was trying to make her life hell and she knew it well. She had been opposed to keeping him around in the first place, knowing that he'd be more trouble than he was worth, if he had lived through his grievous wounds. Of course he had, she thought, he's a fucking troll…. She sighed and leaned against the opposite side of the tree. She hated being here now, seeing them flirt so openly like that. She was furious and heartbroken. This had been her last chance to impress Melvek into liking her enough so she could join with him, but no. Her sister, Isra, had to get in the way, again. When she saw them take no time in waiting to flirt while she fed the bastard troll, she felt wronged, betrayed. She wanted to run away, but knew she couldn't. She felt trapped then. Her mind returning to the memory, she felt her eyes watering up again and felt a tear roll down her cheek and drip from her chin, hitting the leaves on the ground with a sharp tap.

"Whatcha tinkin' about?" The rough, deep voice of the troll snapped her out of her thoughts. She swung around to point the gun at his head, nearly goring his face in the process. The troll leaned back to keep his pretty face intact and held up his hands in surrender. He was leaning sideways against the tree. "Eeey… Sorry to startle ya there."

She was still teary eyed and pretty emotional. "Shut up, you stupid bastard. If you hadn't been here, I…. I…" She couldn't get out the next words, her sobs making her unable to. She closed her eyes and let the tears come down freely, her ears dropping. She suddenly felt something softly touch her head and tilt her head up to look into the face of the troll. His eyes were different, half-lidded in a somewhat caring manor. She looked into his eyes for the first time since meeting him, noticing they were a prismatic mix of deep red and dark brown.

"Ya shouldn't cry like dat. It clouds ya pretty face." He said softly. "I was wondering why we come out so fah from camp. Tought ya'd put mah misery to an end. But I see now…" He let go of her head and stepped back.

Erayla looked at him and felt a boiling anger in her. What did this monster see? A damsel in distress? Something to be consoled by a halfwit, like him! She stopped crying and focused her rage and sadness at him and thrust her bayonet at him. She wanted make him bleed to death now, to make him suffer. Unfortunately, she realized this was the wrong thing to do, but she realized it too later. She watched in resounding horror as the troll, moved to block himself, putting his tied wrists in the path of her trust and the blade dug into the knots of the hemp rope. She silently cursed herself for being so stupid as one strand of the rope snapped and released.

Suddenly the eyes of the troll held no more kindness, no more understanding, only red hot fury that lashed out at her now that it was free. The troll swatted the gun away and slammed into her, knocking her a good few feet back and onto her back. She swiveled and took a deep breath to scream a warning to the other two, but just before she do anything, her face was pushed into the dirt. He dug a knee into her back, forcing the air out of her. She felt tear again leak from her eyes, in physical pain this time. She was roughly turned over and had the air knocked out of her. The troll straddled her waist and curled his legs to pin hers down while he grabbed her arms with one hand. Using the other hand to strangle her, keeping her from screaming, but kept her breathing.

"Now, leetle girl. Ya are gonna to leesten to what I say and do what I tell ya, ok?" He whispered this into her ear. He waited for her to respond. Erayla didn't have much choice but to nod. "Good. Now we'ya gonna get up and you're gonna turn around and go back. You should know by now that I can easily overpowa ya without much thought, so dun try anyting funny, got eet?" He eyed her and she nodded again. He jumped off her roughly and landed beside her. She laid there, stunned. He nudged her with a toe and she slowly got up, a little sore. "Turn," he stated flatly. Erayla slowly turned and began walking back to camp, she noticed the fire was barely visible and was almost gone. She heard the troll pick up her discarded firearm just before she felt a sharp pain at the base of her neck and felt her world vanishing, hearing the troll say, "Sorry girlie," just before she blacked out completely.

Zin knelt down next to the river bordering Ashenvale and Azhara, the Southfury. He cupped his thin hands and pulled fresh water to his lips, letting his lips sit in the water for a while before sipping to soak them. Feeling the cool liquid coarse down his throat made him sigh once he was through drinking, cooling him off from the inside and radiating out in waves of refreshing cold. Zin sat back on his heels, glancing over his shoulder, making sure no one had followed him.

Sighing, Zin looked down, his conflicted mind rifling through the events of the night's flight from the elves. After knocking out his favorite captor, he bolted off with her rifle and made his way quickly away from the camp, hoping to get far enough away so the other two gave up the chase. He was, for a moment, considering taking the girl with him, but she would only slow him down and give the other two a reason to follow him this far.

The sun hung high over the Southfury River, making the water surface sparkle with life. Zin looked longingly into the water, seeing a few fish in the current waiting to food to float by. He grumbled softly and stood up, wincing when he overstrained his wound on his left butt cheek. He growled again at himself and started off, heading north along the river. He needed to go back to the coast to get back to his boat and be off, away from this place. Maybe he could get some fishing in before he had to report back, he mused.

Suddenly, Zin stopped and looked down, feeling that he stepped in something different. Looking down, he saw he had stepped in a rather large track. He recognized the hoof print immediately: Tauren. Zin looked to his left and followed the tracks into the distance, noticed a multitude of other tracks. Dwarves, Goblins, a couple Blood Elves, one of them having a dog as a pet and a single female Troll print, he noticed as he counted the tracks. _What an odd combination of people_, he thought. He then looked closer at them, noticing that they were fresh, very fresh and they were in a hurry. He wondered why they would be in such a hurry to get somewhere. That's when he noticed another set of tracks, older tracks, Night Elf tracks. _Shit._ His eyes widened at the realization that the fresh tracks were from a tracking party. They were searching for him. _Great, _he thought. They were the bastards who shot him in the ass, the bastards who should be dead, but weren't. He slung the blunderbuss forward and looked down the barrel, seeing that it was loaded. _Shit, one shot._ He flicked a finger across the large knife on the front of the barrel, noticing it was relatively sharp.

He looked at the tracks again and followed them with his eyes, they were heading straight for the camp. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and took off as fast as he could, following the elf tracks back to camp.

Night had fallen when the flicker of the fire came to life in the camp. Having moved since the night before, the three Night Elves had cleared a new area for camp, the sun dropping below the horizon before they could attend to the fire.

Erayla rubbed her hands together, the friction warming her numbing fingers. She blew into them for added warmth, her thoughts trailing to the night before. She had failed to keep the troll they captured. When she had finally gotten back to camp, the others were in the middle of other activities and had barely noticed their absence. They did notice when the troll wasn't with her upon entering the camp, though. After questioning, Melvek decided to let him go and make for Forest Song.

As she started rocking back and forth on the log she was sitting on, her leg brushed against something soft. She looked down and saw the Troll's leather backpack. She leaned down and looked closer at it, noticing that it was quite old and worn. She lightly traced a finger over the top flap, feeling the suede feel of it. It was very well taken care of, not something she expected to see a Troll carry, at all. She looked around to see if the others were looking, noticing they had retreated to the other side of camp, again. She looked back to the backpack and unbuckled the flap, flipping it open. Her eyes widened when she saw the various bottles of thick green sludge sitting on top. She picked one up and sniffed it, nearly dropping it when the stench of death came off the bottle, her head buzzing. She put aside the bottles and looked inside again. She pulled out a long shaft with a groove cut through the center and ran the entire length of the shaft. She looked at it in wonderment, not even able to come up with a guess to its true purpose. She carefully set the shaft aside and rummaged through the pack some more, coming up with strange devices, food, drink, a few arrow shafts with swirling patterns carved into them and a nearly empty bottle of brown liquor. When she dove into the pack again, she bumped the log with her feet and knocked over something at the end of the log. Erayla shifted her gaze to the spot where the noise came from and saw the upper half of the Troll's bow.

Erayla scooted over to the fallen weapon, being careful not to knock over any of the many bottles she pulled out. When she brought the large bow up for a closer look, she gasped. The bow was much too elegant to be of Trollish or Orcish in design. It struck her as elven, but much more bold in design. The two polar ends were thin and fanned out that reminded her of fins on a fish. The center of the body of the bow was shielded in a metal hand guard that resembled the top of a falcon's head. Two blades pointed forwards towards the target from the upper and lower halves of the hand guard, framing the area where the arrows were nocked and fired. Forward of the arms, metal plates were strapped to the wood for much more strength in the pull. Erayla marveled at the bow and its superb craftsmanship, tracing the small runes that were carved into the wood. The bow was left strung, which Erayla furrowed her brows at.

She was about to unstring it so the memory in the arms would remain when Melvek strode over to her and stood in front of her patiently. She looked up at him, "What?" She said this a little more bitter than she really intended.

"We need fire wood, Era. Sorry to send you out late, but would you-"

She cut him off, holding up a hand, "Yeah yeah, I'll get going." She stood up and set the bow down, picking up her curved short sword. She found her hand axe and rope before setting out from camp. She looked over at her shoulder to see her sister and Melvek already making out, maybe she'd stay out longer than she planned.

Erayla coiled the rope around the small stack of wood she had harvested from the fallen tree she had just come upon. She had come quite a ways from camp, the light of the fire wasn't visible anymore and hadn't been for a while. Erayla's eyes saw quite well in the pitch darkness, but the thick blanket of shadow that surrounded her still made her skin crawl a little.

She strapped the bundle of wood to her back, hooking the axe to her waist, opposite the sword. Erayla blew a strand of silver hair that fell into her vision and started her trek back to camp. Slowly, the flicker of the fire came into view through the trees. She huffed out a sharp breath when she saw figures, her companions, stand in front of the light, blocking it from her view.

A loud shout from the direction of the camp, brought her to sudden halt. Her ears perked up, hoping to listen to the conversation. There was more shouting and a scream that Erayla recognized as her sister. Growling, she ran forward towards the camp. Panic set in when she noticed more than two figures around the fire and the shouting got louder, much louder. Just before she broke through the tree line into camp, something heavy slammed into her and knocked her down to the ground. She lifted her head up to scream, but found herself screaming into a large, calloused hand.

Zin pressed the squirming elf into the ground harder, trying to quiet her. He bite her ear to stop her thrashing. It worked, but she still had a furious tremor coursing through her body. He let go of her now bleeding ear and leaned down, grunting softly when she sunk her own teeth into his palm, going well past the skin.

"Listen, girlie. Ya need ta calm down a bit befoe you get keeled." He leaned off of her, his hand still in her mouth.

She side glared daggers at him, not willing to forgive him for stopping her vengeance. He rolls his eyes in response, "Ya can let go now, womon." She glared harder and slowly let go of his hand, spitting out his blood as if it was poisonous.

She suddenly surged to leap into the fray of the camp, which was slowing down as the raiders had taken the two elves by surprise and were tying them up, but Zin grabbed her and with relative ease he pushed her back into the ground, the wood bundle giving way and scattering. Zin pulled her back to his side, she wasn't thrashing like she didn't earlier, he realized, thank the Loa.

"We be as good as dead if ya goin' ta just run in, elf. Do ya have ammo fa dis ting?" He whispered to her, gestering to the gun strapped to his back.

She looked at him as if he'd slapped her hard, but nodded slowly.

"Good, can I trust ya not to shoot meh in da back?"

"That I can't guarantee…" She slowly let through her teeth, he imagined she was imagining him being gutted or being shot. She probably thought he brought these people to them, he thought, which was true, unintentionally.

Zin sighed, "Look, ya can shoot meh after all dis is done… If we make it through, make that your goal if ya want. I need ya to pick off da stragglers on the outer edges of da camp. Draw them away through the forest, ya have much bettah eyes dan dem, make quick work of dem. I'll take da heads of da leadahs. Good?"

Erayla, he recalled, lessened her hard expression and nodded, looking from him to the camp. She scanned the many raiders and sighed, looking back at him with a scowl. Zin smirked slightly and pushed the gun into her hands, "Eet still loaded, girlie."

He made to get up so he could get positioned somewhere out of the way, only to have the elf grab his wrist and hold him. He regarded her with surprise, she was putting the sword she carried into his palm. He took the sword and looked over it to see it in quite good condition. "Tanks…" was all he could get out through his surprise.

"What's your name?" She asked softly.

Zin quirked an eyebrow and looked at her with surprise, "What? Why be so interested now? Hmm?"

"I'd like to know your name if I have to carve it on your grave should you fuck up." She said flatly and without hesitation.

Zin almost laughed, holding himself and only allowed a toothy grin appear on his face. "Zin'auk at ya service, m'lady." He bowed slightly. "Just call meh Zin."

She wasn't very much amused by his humor and stood slowly, shouldering the blunderbuss. "Well… Zin, I'm ready when you are."

"Good, let me go, den wait a minute or two, den fire at will. Make sure ta not get keeled, I haven't finished annoying you, yet." He grinned and turned around before she could give him a glare or a retort.

Zin slinked away, keeping just out of the firelight. He gripped and twirled the blade around in his hand, testing its weight and balance. It felt good to him, a little small, but well balanced.

He stopped when he had gotten to the far side of the camp, nearly directly across from Erayla, if she didn't move. He leaned up against a tree and peered around it into the camp. He then noticed the dog with one of the Blood Elves. He forgot about the dog and hit himself for it. If Erayla didn't shoot the dog first, she would probably get caught. _Shoot the dog, elf, _he thought, _Pleeeaaase shoot the dog!_

Silence fell on the camp and the surrounding area. Nothing seemed to move, as if waiting for the soon to come gunshot. Zin bent down behind the tree and waited, picking up some rocks in the dirt and holding them in his free hand. Slowing his breath down, he waited…. And waited. He started wondering what Erayla was up to that kept her so long.

A sudden _CRACK_ shocked him from his frustrations. Peering over at the camp, he saw most of the trackers run off towards the opposite side of forest, towards the trap that is Erayla. Grinning when he saw the body of the tracking dog lying in the middle of the camp, Zin crept out from behind the tree and stalked toward the camp and the two remaining trackers in the camp watching over the two elves. The massive bull was focused on the repeated shots and shouts coming from the shadowed forest. Zin managed to crouch behind one of the fallen logs that surrounded the fire that served as benches. Peeking over the log, he saw the Tauren standing now. He looked across the fire and was talking to the other figure across the fire.

Zin exhaled, positioned the sword so he could stab downwards and struck. He surged over the log and used it to jump up. He landed on the bull's back before the massive Tauren realized what was happening and thrust the sword downward as hard as he could, feeling the sword bite into the flush and hit something hard. Zin pressed hard into the bone and then leaned back, using his weight, and twisted the blade as hard as he could. The blade caught on something and stuck. Zin pulled again and felt and heard a resounding pop come from the bull's neck. The body he had landed on and had begun to attempt to throw him off went slack. Pulling the blade free and jumping down, he let the body fall to side and rolled backwards.

His body struck something that bounced off the log, hitting him in the back of the head, and landed on the ground next to him. Groaning and rubbing the back of his head, Zin looked to see his beloved weapon lying on the ground next to him. How he'd not noticed its beautiful curves before, he didn't know. Without thinking, Zin snatched up the bow and looked frantically for an arrow. He lunged at one sticking out of the ground, rounding the fire somewhat and startling the figure behind it. He freed the arrow from the soil and nocked it in on fluid motion, swiveling on the balls of his feet, pulling the arrow and bumped his tusk with his hand, pointing at the sound of commotion. He froze, the female Troll leader had the female Elf stood up and hid behind her, her face resting on the elf's shoulder. He guessed there was a knife at the elf's back. Little slashes covered the elf's arms and a particularly deep one had pierced through the white priestess robes into her left hip.

Although it concerned him, the elf's condition was not the reason for his sudden halting. "Shi'din?"

The female Troll, Shi'din, laughed, "So. Ya finally deeside to join us, eh? Been awhile, Zin."

Zin glared death at her, "It was you, ya leetle bitch!" His arrow became trained on her forehead.

"And what exactly did ah do?" She smugly rested her chin on the elf's shoulder and grinned at Zin.

He growled at her, looking at the Night Elf's face and to the terrified cat-like eyes. Her arms were tightly bound to the side. Zin glanced behind them at the unconscious male behind them. He was covered in bruises, most likely from the fight earlier with the tracking party. Zin looked back at Shi'din, who still was grinning smugly at him. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"Dun fuck wit meh, womon! How long!" His rage was beginning to boil over, but he forcibly pushed it down. Rage wasn't going to save anyone now.

She chuckled, "Awww…. No foreplay? Fine, two years."

He almost loosed the arrow there, almost. "Loyalty dun mean nutin to ya? People who took ya in? Ya backstabbing whore!" He was roaring by the end of this.

She grinned wolfishly at him, "We work fa da same mon, mon. Da cartel works fa money, why should we hold ourselves to any code of hona? Hm? Ah was offa'd a betta deal, and ah took eet."

"Isra!"

Zin's ears perked at the sound of the elf's voice, but when he saw Shi'din lose focus on him for a brief moment, he loosed the arrow. The arrow struck before she could react and buried itself into her temporal lobe, she was dead before she hit the ground.

The bound Night Elf started to fall forward as Shi'din's body started to fall back, Zin caught the elf, checking her back for anymore wounds before gently setting her down on the ground, face up. Tears were streaming down the sides of her head, quiet sobs coming in droves.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews and favs guys. Better than what I expected really lol. Anyways, here's chapter two fresh off the press. Carefull it's still steaming. Shorter this time as I wanted to get one out before I had school to deal with this week. Don't worry the next chapter will be much longer. ^_^ have fun. R&R Enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: Don't own Warcraft or Blizz.

The large body of the bull hit the water with a slap-ploosh. The body dove under the water momentarily to come back up and bob up and down as the river carried off the battered body. The water rehydrated the dried blood, staining the water bright red. Zin sighed and drew in a deep breath through his pipe. The dried herbs in the tiny cup at the end smoldered with a sickeningly sweet scent that carried on long after the smoke blew away.

Zin turned away from the cliff overhanging the river and walked back towards camp. Erayla was the only non-prone person in camp and she was a far away, deep purple dot. Her panic last night was immense. She had been sobbing as Zin and her dressed her sister's, Isra's, wounds and the male's, Melvek's. Zin pulled out the small dagger Shi'din had used of Isra. He looked at the sick yellow green tint on the blade's edges. He knew the poison that coated that blade well. The poison was meant for Trolls. To prevent blood clotting was the poison's main objective. Without a clot to seal the wound, the Troll's legendary healing factor failed and the Troll would bleed out. There was another poison mixed in with the anti-clotting one, Isra's fever was proof of that. After they had cleaned then seared the wounds closed, Zin had gone about disposing of the bodies.

Melvek was in better condition than Isra, but not by much. He was battered to within an inch of his life. They had bandaged him up, but no cut marks showed he was safe from the toxin that coursed through Isra.

Zin looked up, pocketing the dagger, noticing he was nearly to camp. Erayla looked up from her sister to him, then to his smoldering pipe, then back to him. He grinned and nodded, getting the small hint and walked into the trees to dispose of the ashes. What he smoked was a cocktail of drugs that helped him relax, something he was sure he was going to need a lot of in the future. He returned to see Erayla stoking the fire with a medium length stick. Melvek was up, too, and was tending to his wounds. His ability to heal as a druid startled Zin, he wasn't in tip top shape, but he was much better than he was last night. He was standing and taking off bandages that were on his arm.

Zin looked to the fire and his stomach growled audibly. He growled softly at himself, hearing a soft chuckle from the two elves. "I tink I'll go get us some breakfast." Zin nodded towards a collapsed fishing poll leaning up against a log. As he went over to pick it up, Melvek spoke up, "Why don't you take Erayla with you?"

Zin turned and regarded the druid carefully, seeing only seriousness in the elf's face. Erayla, on the other hand, sighed and stood up. She walked over and picked up the poll without a word and started walking towards the river. She stopped when Zin didn't follow and looked over her shoulder, "Coming?"

Zin watched the druid as he made to follow the female and finally broke his stare, coming up with nothing. He sighed and shook his head, reaching into a pocket and produced a small pouch of the sweet herb blend and stocked his pipe with the stuff. He struck a match and lit the pipe, waving out the match.

When they were a reasonable distance away from the camp, Erayla glanced at him curiously, "So… what's it like?"

Zin quirked an eyebrow, "Gonna have ta give me more den dat, girlie."

"The Horde. What's it like to be a member of the Horde?" She asked innocently.

Zin balked, stopping and taking the pipe out, bending over from laughing so hard. He finally stood up after a minute, looking at the elf, who was clearly angry at him judging from the glare that could melt iron if focused. "Sorry, just haven't been called dat in a long while." He stuck his pipe back in between his lips and sucked greedily on the relaxing drugs.

Erayla was still glaring at him when Zin caught up with her, "Called what? Horde?"

"Yeah. What made ya tink I was Horde?" He asked with a grin.

"Well… You're-"

"A Troll? Not all Trolls are of da Horde, girlie."

"I know that, but you're Darkspear," she stated flatly.

Zin quirked another eyebrow in her direction, "And how'd ya come to dat conclusion?"

"Assumed, mostly. A Troll who knows Common or Darnassian would either be Darkspear or Zandali and you don't have the complexion or the height of the Zandali." She smirked, smug with herself surely.

Zin grinned at her, lip curling over a tusk, "Ya be right about da Darkspear, not da Horde. Not anymore, at least."

They reached the shoreline of the river, silence stretched between them. Zin spotted a large rock overhanging the river and walked over to it, Erayla in toe. Zin stepped aside, gesturing with his hands as if the rock was a door, "Ladies first." He grinned at her impishly.

Erayla smirked and sauntered over to him, "Such the gentlemen…" She looked up at the rock and her smirk dropped, "Umm…" The rock was quite tall, not something she could climb without help.

Zin offered his hands to give her a boost up. She nodded, nervousness crossed her face briefly; she still didn't completely trust him. She leaned the pole up against the rock and gripped the rough surface with her hands. Zin grabbed her hips and pushed her up the rock. She scurried up the rock, but slipped and simply hung off the face. Zin chuckled and his left hand left her hip.

"Sorry, girlie," he tilted his head in silent amusement, chuckling softly.

"For wha-KYAA!" She squeaked loudly when Zin's hand grabbed her left cheek firmly and pushed her up the rock. The push was enough to get her on top of the rock, her hand went to her ass as soon as she was stable on the rock. Zin hopped up and scrambled up without much fuss, balancing the fishing pole in his tusks. The pole fell out and Zin caught it before it hit the ground.

Zin grinned and moved past Erayla, woes face and ears were as bright as a rose. Erayla glared daggers at the back of his head, so much so that Zin swore he felt it. Erayla scooted over next to him, still quite angry, but the stinging handprint on her rear must've been wearing off since she sat just a foot off from Zin.

Zin could hear the tight leathers creek as Erayla pulled her knees up to her chest, her bust preventing her from pulling them completely under her chin. She scowled out over the water, "You know…. You could have been a tad more gentle there…"

Zin chuckled, "Yeah, but den I woulda been denied dat reaction." He swung the bait out over the water and let the line go. Once the line went slack, he set the drag and waited.

Silence past between the two for several minutes, only broken by a fish biting, fighting then shaking the hook off. The bait then continued to soak for several more minutes before Erayla said, "What did you mean by 'not the Horde'?"

Zin stayed silent for a minute longer, just as Erayla opened her mouth to ask again, "Just what I said, not part of da Horde." He blew out a long stream of smoke in a sigh.

Erayla furrowed her eyebrows, "But…. How? What are you then?"

Zin side looked at her, noticing she was looking at him with a genuinely interested expression, her ears perked up to make sure she caught every word. He let out a small chuckle at the comical expression, "I quit."

Erayla's mouth parted in question, then closed, then opened again, "W-w-what?"

"I quit." He repeated.

"How? I can't imagine anyone being able to just quit. And we weren't attacked by those people just for an AWOL grunt." Her expression had hardened considerably.

Zin turned his head to look at her fully now, "You're sharpa dan you appear, girl." She scowled and opened her mouth in protest, but he cut her off with a hand, head turning back to the pole. "Take it as a compliment. You're right, though, noboday just quits da Horde. Five years ago I wouldn't have imagined such a fate, but five years ago I wouldn't have imagined such a buffoon getting into powa." He growled low at the thought of the large brown orc, "Dough I can respect da idiot, he was one of da worst people to be put into dat position. Afta Cairne's death, I handed in my personal resignation ta Vol'jin. He burned it and told meh ta get a head start. Been on da run since."

Erayla stayed silent for a few seconds, "You didn't answer my other question."

He sighed, "Dere's no pleasin' ya is dere?" She shook her head, which made him laugh, "Okay den. Afta runnin' for a few months I came unda fire from some bounty huntas in Rachet. I ran into a buildin' to hide. An old goblin let me hide under his workbench as he turned the huntas away. I hadn't realized who exactly the old gobbling was until he came ova and introduced himself. Gazlowe. Da head of Rachet stood before me and shook meh hand. Nice guy really, if for one thing. Da guy had da gal ta charge me for a 'saved yer ass' fee." Zin grumbled softly at the memory, "Anyways, the fee was ridiculously high. He even made me feel guilty for just barging in and hiding to save ma head! Sneaky old bastard… What he offa'd instead of a money payment, howeva, was a service payment. I thought 'ok, whateva, when do I start?' He says, 'Oooh no, you're not gonna work for me. Stay here tonight and in the morning I'll fill ya in.' So, I stay, racking up more charges for sleeping and eating, of course.

In da mornin', I wake up to see this otha goblin with an eyepatch and a blood elf womon sittin' with Gazlowe. As soon as I entered dat room, da womon, who looked like she spent just a tad too much out on da the seas, threw he damned butta knife at me. I caught the stupid leetle ting outa da air and flung it back at her. She let it fly past her without battin' an eyelash. She smirked at meh and sat back down, 'This one indeed has potential,' she says to the eyepatch goblin. Afta being called ta sit and explained what my payment was gonna come as. I learned that I was being drafted into da Steamweedle Cartel. Specifically into a special sect of the cartel. Think Stormwind's SI:7 or Orgrimmar's Shattered Hand, but this was the cartel's pet spies and assassins." Zin stopped abruptly and grinned at Erayla's entranced face.

She waited a few seconds before, "And?"

"And what?"

"Continue!"

"Can't. Strictly need-ta-know. Plus I dun know ya well enough."

"What! You can't just stop there!" She was practically pleading now.

Jin laughed at her dismay, "Life is like that, girlie. Stories can and do come ta abrupt, meaningless endings all da time." He looked at her tear filled eyes that helped form her hard to resist pout. _Oooh, what ma brudda would pay to see dis, _he laughed in his mind, grinning on the outside. He smugly looked back at the water, "Maybe some udda time, girlie. Everyting else from den on will cost ya."

Erayla tilted her head in question, "In gold?"

Zin grinned widely back at her, his eyes flashing, "Or anyting else ya can offa." His voice dropped seductively for that sentence.

Erayla's face went ruby red again, making Zin lean back from laughing, his voice echoing off the rocks and down the river.

The pair walked back in the baking heat, three large fish slung across Zin's back. He had one of his long fingers hooked through the gill slits of all three fish. The fish were gutted at the river, letting the other fish in the river feast on the entrails.

Erayla watched the ground as they walked, staying silent for the most part. When they were about a hundred yards from camp, she finally spoke, "Thank you."

"Hm? For what?" Zin didn't really react to the question.

Erayla looked up at him, "For the story earlier…. And for coming back."

"Hm. No need ta tank me, girlie, I owed ya anyway for savin' ma life. Also, I brought dose bastards ta ya."

"True, but thanks nonetheless. So what now? Are you going to leave us, again?" Erayla silently scolded herself, hearing the slight pleading she put into the words.

Zin, too, must've heard the odd way she said this because he side looked at her skeptically, "Nah, girlie. I'll stick around till ya sista is bettah. I have a feelin' we gunna need ta move her soon. Dat poison she got stuck wit is meant fa Trolls. It'll be devastatin' to an Elf. I got an antidote back at my boat in Azhara, but dat'll mean moving her dere. If it's as bad as I tink it is, she won't live to see next week without treatment."

"Melvek should be able to clear it from her veins, though. Won't he?" Her pleading voice became even more insistent.

"Doubt it. Dat poison is made for assassinations. If a group of priests or druids could cure a poison, den it would've been pointless ta do de job in de first place. Most assassins carry such poisons. Dat one in particular is usually delivered to de Alliance for obvious reasons." He drawled on, seeming to lose interest in the subject of poison.

Erayla nodded, "So…. What do we do?"

"We'll figure that out when de time comes. Hopefully today." They stepped into camp then, coming up upon Melvek tending to the fire and Isra sitting up against a log. They both greeted the two coming into camp, Melvek taking the fish from Zin and they both went to prepare the fish. Erayla went to sit with Isra.

Her sister's skin was covered in clean bandages. She was passively rubbing a bandaged forearm, her eyes cast off in thought. Erayla looked up to see the males off behind the fire, out of earshot. "How're you holding up?"

Isra didn't react right away, only looking at Erayla when she did react. She winced when Erayla's seemingly icy hand touched her burning forehead.

Erayla sighed, "Not good. You need help, soon." She smiled a little and whispered to her sister, "Wanna know something interesting about our mysterious savior?" She smirked knowingly when Isra quirked an eyebrow at her in question. "He's a member of the Steamweedle Cartel. He's some secret soldier for the goblins. Though he won't tell me details, very mysterious he makes it seem…." She faded off in thought.

Isra looked up at her sister's face and grinned, "You're like a 60 year old entranced by her school teacher." She said softly, not able to get any louder.

Erayla blushed hard, the blood rushing to her cheeks and ears with a vengeance, "W-what?" Isra jumped at the exclamation, her ears drooping as if she were struck. "Sorry… but I am…. No… just no…" she softened her voice, but was still quite flustered. Isra giggled at Erayla's dismay, a knowing expression on her face.

She scowled at her sister and looked away. Her eyes fell on Zin, who was fanning one of the splayed fish, keeping the flames from burning it. She looked hard at his face, the deeply cut facets creating a wild visage in an obviously calm face. His short tusks curled up and away from his mouth. Dark, forest green dreadlocks hung thick on his head, cut short just past his light blue neck. She then focused on his ears, the only thing on his body that truly told of his experience. Out of one ear was a large jagged chunk taken out and several holes pock marked the cartilage. The ear closest to her twitched and he swiveled his head to land on her. She quickly looked away from him, feeling the heat coming back to her face.

After several more minutes, the fish was done. They greedily ate the fish, Melvek feeding Isra since she was too weak to feed herself. Erayla watched the two snuggle next to each other and chat quietly, Melvek trying to keep Isra's spirits up. She sighed to herself and fished the last of the flesh of the fish.

"You gonna eat dat?"

Erayla jumped at the low rumble of Zin's voice next to her. She looked at him and noticed he was pointing to the uneaten fish head. She looked back at him in disgust, "No…."

"May I?"

"Uuuuh…. Sure." She handed him the stick with the skewered fish skeleton.

He took the stick, popping the head off and tossing it into his open maw. Erayla cringed at the crunching sound that met her ears when his law came together. He wiped his hands against each other, swallowing the head with an 'aaah.' Erayla couldn't help but ask, "How was it?" Her disgust was clearly evident.

"Not bad, shoulda cooked it more, get it crispier." He made motions with his hands and stared off, his mind on cooking the fish. Erayla grimaced and tried to focus on something else, her mind not being very successful.

The next hour was spent discussing what they should do and how they should go about doing it. Melvek confirmed that the poison resisted his attempts to cleanse it over and over. Zin proposed journeying to Azhara. The journey would take them only a few days at most and the boat was safely out of any Horde patrolled zone. The only problem was putting undue stress on Isra. The journey would shorten her time, but would also get her closer to the antidote. Eventually they settled on setting out in the morning and let Isra get much needed rest.

Zin walked to the edge of camp after the meeting and sat down next to his bow. The armored surface was dusty and dirty. He sighed, picking it up and brushing off the dirt. He rifled through his bag and produced a rag and began polishing off the muck from the elegant weapon.

He heard a body sit next to him and heard Erayla's trademark sigh. "Ya know, womon. You comin ova ta me all de time startin' ta make me wonda."

Erayla ignored the comment, "Where'd you get that bow?"

Zin paused, "Um… A friend gave it ta me. Sort of a farewell gift." He began polishing the guard again.

"It's beautiful."

Zin paused again and looked up at the striking elf, he face was in awe of the bow, "Tank ya. Ees dat all?"

She scowled at him, "No. I wanted to know more about you."

He looked at her, "You feelin' ok?"

"I'm fine." She sighed again, "Just trying to break the ice between us."

"Why?"

"I'm not really sure."

Zin laughed, "Well, I doubt we'll eva see each other again afta dis. So, what do ya want ta know? Granted ah can't tell ya anyting about de Cartel itself."

Erayla scowled again at him, again, "That's really what I wanted to know more about. Hmmm…. How did you learn Darnassian?"

He chuckled at that, a face springing into his head, "Anoda friend. He works for da Cartel on occasion, providing information for cash and oda services. He's a Night Elf like you. Though he has de oddest…. _Interests_…. De man likes my kind a tad too much." Zin laughed suddenly, "He's de exact opposite of what ya would tink of a Night Elf in personality." He grinned at the memory, then he looked at Erayla suddenly, "What's da history between you three?" He gestured back over at the other two.

Erayla leaned back at the question, not expecting it. "Umm… Well gee… We've all known each other since early childhood. Isra and I are very close in age together, only a few years off. In Night Elf society that's extremely rare without being twins." She picked up her pace of speaking suddenly and really got into it. Zin listened to her recount tails of the three playing and mock hunting as they slowly grew up. She talked vividly with her hands, he face mimicking the face of someone scolding them for getting into the herbalist's supplies. Zin started becoming fascinated by her voice and the way she lilted it in ways that gave surprising depth to journeys and quests. "And then the Legion came. Isra had been called into the Sisterhood and Melvek to the Druids. We were separated for a long time. I was drafted into the military. I served mostly as an archer, but never really served any real combat until Hyjal. That was a shock to me. Nothing I had seen before prepared me for that." Her expression saddened considerably.

"Yeah, I remember that, too. Dough I was a veteran by den, the carnage there took on a new level. I almost died dere, but I managed to retreat wit da othas in time. Had nightmares of dat place for a long while afta dat, but Outland cured dat with new nightmares." Zin stopped and looked back at the Elf. "Sorry, girlie. Please, continue."

She scowled at him softly, "I think I've said enough for now." By the time she had stopped, the sun had crept low in the sky and cast long, dancing shadows. The shadows cast by their bodies from the fire bounced and weaved in an almost seductive dance, reminding Zin of the Darkspear tribal dances that often took place after meals.

Zin grinned at her, "Alrighty. Ya peaked my interest, indeed." He set his bow down and stood up. He went to his pack and put the rag back in it. "I tink it's time to sleep. We leavin early tomorrow." He then strode over to Melvek, telling him that he'll take the night watch half way through the night and hit the sack early. Melvek nodded and turned back to the now sleeping Isra.

Zin walked back over to Erayla and sat down next to the log, laying his head back against it. "Tank ya for da story. It was nice."

"No problem. You owe me for it though." She leaned forward and set her chin on her face up palm.

Zin laughed, "Tomorrow, girlie." With that he closed his eyes and let the creeping darkness grip him in sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, this took a hell of a lot longer than I thought. Sorry for the long update, just got on Spring Break so hopefully I'll have one at the end of the week. Hopefully. But yeah here it is! Enjoy! :D

Disclaimor: I don't own blizzard or it's characters or Warcraft. If I did, there'd be Thrall and Jaina babies EVERYWHERE! jk... or am I? ;D

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Morning broke through the trees with a sudden burst of color. Brilliant rainbows of dew sparkled in the mossy trees. Zin'auk silently watched a tiny sparrow hip-hop along a branch towards his face. Only his eyes moved, steadily watching the bird come closer. Chirps and brief sounds of falling branches from the canopy echoed with a force that brought tranquility.

Zin blew at the bird suddenly, startling it before flying off. He grinned at himself, he still had the touch. He then took a deep, cleansing breath and relaxed again, stretching the taut leathering tighter across his knuckles as he closed his fists.

Perched atop a log, the Troll squatted motionless in a moss covered section of forest. Once someone was able to spot him, he would've looked absurdly large sitting on the log.

Suddenly, Zin's ear twitched, something was stalking closer to him. The antlers of a young buck came through the trees off in the distance. His body frozen, he waited and watched the stag walk into a clearing of fresh, unkempt grass. The buck looked around, suspicious of anything watching him. When he saw nothing, he lowered his head and nibbled on the virgin grass.

Zin had already begun moving, nocking an arrow silently in his beloved bow and slowly pulled back the string. He let the nock rest on his cheek for a moment, masterfully guessing the trajectory or the arrow. He adjusted as needed and let the arrow go. The resulting low vibration caused by the bow caused the buck to look up suddenly, only to be pierced through-in-through by the arrow in the chest. The buck dashed away, making it only ten yards before he slammed into the earth, his body bled out already.

Chuckling low, Zin shouldered the bow and hopped off the log, breakfast wouldn't be long away now.

Erayla moaned softly, her head throbbing. Her hand grabbed at the dull pain that seemed to course down her spine. "Mmmm…" she moaned again. The pain was getting worse as she continued to wake up.

She opened her eyes, blinking away tears from the pain and the light. Her vision was blurry from the tears when she sat up, her head swimming. She leaned back against the log she ended up sleeping against last night. Her back hurt and she was sore everywhere.

Soft rustling behind the log startled her. Erayla looked over the fallen tree, her eyes meeting a crouched figure that was stuffing various items into a sack. The figure stopped and looked over his shoulder, her eyes meeting the prismatic red brown irises of Zin. His face was painted with mud and a dark green pigment that reminded her of tree moss. His equally green hair was pulled back into a pony tail. Erayla looked down his body, seeing that his armor was painted the same mix of green and brown. The shape of his armor struck her. She recognized it as the nerubian chitin that the Argent Crusade awarded hunters that helped storm Icecrown. The Bloodhunter's armor moved silently unlike other mail pieces, allowing Zin to stalk his prey more efficiently.

Erayla pulled herself out of her musings of things she really shouldn't be musing about and groaned again, the feeling of the headache wreaking her world. She slowly lowered her head down to the log and slowly began repeatedly butting her head against the wood. A gloved hand brushed her cheek softly. She halted and snapped her gaze up to see Zin thrusting a vial of purple liquid into her mouth and tilting it up. The fowl liquid slipped down her throat before she realized what had just happened. Coughing, she glared at him, "What the hell was that?"

"Just geev it a meenute, mon," he said flatly.

"For wh-whooooaaaa…." Her world went spinning and she fell on her back. Suddenly everything felt good, REALLY good. The world above her was spinning madly, but for her it was alllllright. She giggled madly when Zin, a god among Trolls, walked into her vision. He squatted next to her and flipped her over unceremoniously. She responded immediately, her hips rising into the air on their own accord to be pushed down by Zin's very large hands. She giggled uncontrollably when Zin sat on her ass to keep her down and started feeling up her spine, stopping and mumbling to himself when he came to spots that protruded unusually.

Erayla squeaked excitedly when he picked her up after getting off her. Zin wrapped his arms around her shoulders, letting her feet dangle, and jumped. When he came down, Erayla's slack feet pulled her down, resulting in several sickening pops from her spine. Dizziness swarmed her head from the quite pleasurable pops and she started feeling even better. Now back to the masculine stud in front of her.

Zin sighed, the loopy Night Elf in front of him writhing in his hold. She had wrapped her legs around his waist and was now grinding herself against his groin. The thick carapace that was his armor was the only thing that kept them apart. He cursed his extra tight pants due to the water they were in a couple days ago. His raging erection was giving him an equally raging ache in the same spot. He pushed the horny Elf off of him, getting an annoyed whine from her, and set her down on the log.

He stepped over the log to go back to packing the stag meat, wrapping it in a protective paper that kept the rot away from the meat. He leaned down to put the last few shanks into the pack when he heard a soft, yet very energetic whining behind him. Zin looked over his shoulder to see Erayla sitting on the log facing him, hands on her knees and a tremor running through her body. She was barely holding herself back from jumping him again.

He reached into his pack again and pulled out another vial of purple liquid. He uncorked the vial and sniffed, this was a fresh batch. The stench confirmed that the Goblin who sold it to him had probably just finished making it. He walked over to Erayla and grabbed her jaw, pinching to open her mouth. When she stuck out her tongue to accept anything he might give her, he realized he probably didn't need to be forceful with her. He drained the vial down her throat and she swallowed gleefully. He grinned when she looked up at him with another wanton-filled look, to fell over backwards, out cold. Zin chuckled and turned back to his duties.

A restless shift told Zin the elf was awake again. His loping run bounced her gently up and down his back slightly. A 'mmm' escaped her, signaling that she was coming back to the world. He looked up the walls of the canyon they had entered, seeing the rays of the setting sun come over the edge. The darkness that permeated the canyon made Zin pause for a moment, "I tink we should stop fo da night." He looked over his shoulder at the very large bear with Isra riding. In addition to her, bags filled with their supplies were strapped to Melvek's sides. Seeing a druid's bear form used as a mount was comical to Zin.

Another shuffle from Erayla brought him out of his thoughts. He stuck his bow into the sand and pulled on the knots around his waist, releasing the rope holding Erayla's form to his back. She slid off him, still half awake, and flopped to the ground. The impact did little to ease her back to reality, but she did seem to notice it at least.

Zin chuckled and looked back to the bear, who looked amused, but still needed to be unloaded. He helped Isra off and set her down on the sandy shore softly. Unpacking the fluffy Melvek was a quick ordeal without much fuss. He looked around the beach and noticed a few large pieces of driftwood in the distance.

"Hmm, Imma go get us some fiya wood. De heat will help da girl."

"I'll go too, two bodies are better than one." Melvek had shifted back to his elf form faster than Zin remembered him shifting into his bear form.

"Dun ya tink one of us should stay wit da girls? Dun tink dat one has come back to us, yet." Zin gestured to the swaying Erayla. She was improving slowly, but surely, but still slowly.

Melvek smirked, "Probably right. Alright, I'll stay. Just don't feel like I've been helping all that much with this." He shrugged and looked quite disappointed with himself.

Zin chuckled softly, "Dun worry, mon. Ya goin ta be doin a lot more soon." With that, Zin turned and started off down the beach, grabbing the hand axe from one of the packs at his feet first.

It was a relatively short walk to the wood. Zin found it was larger than he guessed from the distance. The smooth curves of the bleached surface were covered in sand and small rocks. He brushed the grit away before hacking into the edge of the log, breaking off large chunks with loud snaps that echoed down the canyon and returning again and again. Before long, he had a substantial pile of wood at his feet. Strapping the axe to his hip, Zin started gathering the wood up in his hold. By the time he had all of the wood, his arms were looped around the huge bundle of wood in a giant bear hug. Some of the smaller pieces slipped out to his dismay, but he sighed and straightened up.

Walking upright completely was awkward for Zin, but was unavoidable due to the very large bundle of wood in front of him. He stumbled along the shore, catching rocks with his toes and swearing loudly when he repeatedly did so. He could barely see in front of him, again due to the wood, and what little he did see wasn't enough to avoid more rocks.

By the time he got back to the elves, his feet were cut and bruised heavily. He dropped the wood unceremoniously, splinters shot a few feet away from the impact. Hoping on a foot, Zin examined his other damaged appendage, groaning softly to himself when he noticed they needed cleaning. The wounds didn't hurt much, but they could get infected if left alone.

Zin set his foot down and looked up to see both Melvek and Isra chuckling at him and his antics. He grinned at the sight, the two were getting more comfortable around him as time went on. However, as the sight of the two humored him, there was something wrong. Rather, something was missing. Someone was missing, "Where's Erayla?"

Both elves raised their eyebrows in surprise, "She went off. She was quite miffed about you dropping her earlier," Melvek answered.

Zin laughed, memories of how the drug sometimes allowed for increased senses upon waking, but slow reaction coming back to him. "Well den, here's ya wood. Ima go clean out ma feet." He pointed a thumb down the river towards the falls. "If ya get hungry, da stag meat is in one of ma bags. Feel free ta dig fo it. I'll be a while." Zin turned around and loped off down the river.

Erayla held herself as she stalked down the sandy beach, shivering slightly as the cold penetrated her skin. She had run off in anger after her senses returned. She was livid at how Zin had forced her to take whatever was in that damn vial. Her bruised rump stung with every step as she continued down the shore. She looked up at the roaring falls that she had walked to and from multiple times now, amazed by the majesty of it. The water came from an unbelievable height and cascaded down, becoming a fine mist that coated everything and made them slick.

Her skin was damp and the mist was very cold itself, but she was afraid of walking away and freezing to death in the cool night air beyond the falls. She felt trapped and helpless, but without a direct enemy to blame. The only one she could blame was herself for letting her anger get the better of her. Well, she could blame Zin, too.

Her thoughts briefly touched the idea of the troll. She had never met anyone quite like him. He was always jovial about things and optimistic. He exuded an unusual aura that somehow made it easier to talk to him, made her feel safe almost. She remembered having the feeling before, with an old gnome engineer she had met while stopping in Ironforge. The little greenish gray haired gnome came back to her thoughts. He had been a perverted old fart, but always knew how to comment on things and make one feel wanted. The fact that Zin reminded her of a gnome made the elf laugh heartily inside.

Without warning, Erayla felt a soft warmth in the air. She looked up and noticed she had trekked even closer to the falls and was getting soaked. The feeling of distant warmth puzzled her; the water clinging to her now was freezing. Erayla paused again and concentrated on the feeling, half expecting to find she was going crazy. She moved towards the raised temperature with her eyes closed, moving with slow, deliberate steps that were bringing her closer and closer to the falls. The feeling increased slowly and she finally opened her eyes. She was just to the side of the freezing cascade, but she could see a stone staircase leading behind the falls. She looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary, other than the stairs. She was positive that she could see steam leaking out of the opening the stairs led into.

She checked around her again and made up the stairs. By now she was shivering and numbness clung to her extremities. Erayla paused again when she made it to the large opening that had steam billowing out of it. She basked in the warmth the steam provided, but the deeper, more substantial heat came from the inside.

She stumbled into the tunnel leading inside and shuffled her way deeper. A soft light came from the inside and illuminated the rock walls with a gentle glow. She eventually came to a domed cavern with a large pool that had steam rising off the surface. Steam clogged the air and made it impossible to tell how big the chamber truly was.

The soothing steam and warmth were cut short suddenly. A massive figure surged from the water and grabbed Erayla by the shoulder, pushing down hard to hold in place, but not enough to send her to the floor. A sharp edge pressed up against her throat, cutting her breathing short. The sudden surge caused steam to fog the room so bad that she couldn't make out her assailant. Her counterpart must've felt the same way since they didn't move after pinning her with the blade.

Slowly the fog began to settle. Other than the dripping sounds of the water, the room was completely silent. Erayla stared ahead into the mist, afraid to move her head to look at the hands holding her. The outline of a tall figure became feint in the mist. Suddenly a grunt issued from the figure and the blade pressed harder against her throat, making Erayla hold her breath in. "Now I undastand why da girls get so testy when I spy on em. Whatchu doin heya, elf?" The low growl of Zin's voice rumbled in Erayla's head.

She was speechless, mainly due to the axe at her throat, but also because of the quite humorous sight that greeted her once the mist cleared enough. Towering above her was a very naked troll, a troll she was quite mad at, but with a soaked crop of hair running down his face and sides of his head, she had to remind herself of the axe to keep from laughing. Zin must've realized this and that she wasn't a threat because he took the axe away from her throat. His grip on her shoulder didn't ease up though, "Feel like talkin now, girlie?" His now trademark pipe stuck out from between his lips to the side, the tiny cup at the end was dripping, having been dunked when he slipped underwater to ambush the would-be-intruder who turned out to be her.

She paused, shivering still from the cold, "Uh… umm… I-I….. w-wwaass c-c-c-c-coollld aa-a-a-nd I-I-"

"Followed da heat…" Zin finished for her, his grip lessoning.

Erayla nodded and looked down, and now that the mist was even clearer, right at-, "Oh Elune…" She quickly looked to the side, her cheeks flushing red. The image of his very erect shaft buzzed around in her head like a very persistent insect. Her curiosity demanded she look more, but she sated the sudden lust by side glancing up and down Zin's body. Tiny water droplets slipped down his rippled shoulders and chest. Cords of muscle were pulled over his bones to the point that they looked as if they would snap at any moment. The toned blue skin and fleece like fur covering Zin's body fired blood at high pressure into Erayla's head, making her feel as if she would explode.

"Hm?" Zin rumbled, confused, then looked down. "Oh! Sorry sorry." He placed his hand over her eyes and tilted her head up to look at him, blindfolded. "Loa, ya cold, girl…" He backed up and moved aside, thumb pointing at the water, "In."

Erayla looked up at him and stared. She didn't exactly know what to think of this new development. She couldn't think of anything more pleasant than that water right now, but to think that she'd be in the same pool as- what was he doing?

Zin had become impatient and picked her by the shoulders and was now holding her over the water. Erayla shrieked and flailed about, "No! Don't drop me in theeeerrree!" She stared wildly at the water and clawed at the air to get away like a deranged cat being held over the same thing.

Zin's chuckling filled the cavern and mock dropped her, only letting her fall about an inch. Erayla's responding shriek brought Zin more laughter, but he moved her away from the pool and set her close to the edge and began unlacing her leathers from the back. He was unusually quick with it, too, the tight leather nearly falling off of her before she could react. "Hey! What the hell are you doing!" She stepped away and grabbed her leathers to keep them from falling.

"Ya can't get leathas wet without puttin dem into molds to keep dem from shrinkin, girl." His predatory eyes were having a feast going over her nearly exposed chest.

Erayla blushed furiously, "Well ask first! A-a-and look away!" Her voice was a shrill now, her eyes were closed and she was starting to back away as if being attacked.

Zin stood there a moment, "What exactly do ya tink I'm gonna do to ya?"

Erayla creaked an eye open to see that Zin had stepped closer quietly, a hairless eyebrow was raised in confusion and all of his previous amusement was gone. She looked away from his eyes, "Uuuuh…. Well… you w-w-were undressing me and all…."

Zin laughed, "Fo exactly da same reason as before, girlie. Ya taught I was gonna have ma way witcha?" He laughed again, buckling over slightly.

Erayla scowled at him, "Y-you're not?"

Zin couldn't keep himself from laughing at the look on her face, "Noooo, girlie. Oh no, heh, ya pretty an' all, but rapin' dames doesn't get me off." He kept chuckling as he lowered himself back into the water.

Erayla couldn't help but ask, "Well why not?" She stood up straight and put her hands on her hips, the jostling knocking her leathers free and revealing her ample set of knockers. Her hard nipples showed she was still chilled and probably going to get a cold later on.

Zin's gaze was locked onto her breasts in an instant, but his expression didn't change much. "Well, because it's no fun when da female is tryin to claw away from ya or crying or screamin in the bad way. Just a turn off fo me." Zin was knocking out the end of his pipe, his eyes never leaving her breasts.

Erayla covered herself after finally noticing the direction of his gaze.

He stuffed his pipe with fresh drug and lit the end of it with a match. "Ya should get in, girl, befo ya catch a chill, if ya haven't alreadeh." He sucked in a deep breath and blow out a thick cloud of smoke, relaxing his head back against the wall of the pool on the side far away from the elf.

Erayla stood watching the troll and made sure he wasn't watching before taking her hands away from her breasts. She unlaced her leather pants quickly and slipped them off after unlacing her leather boots. Her panties were the only thing left on her body after a quick disrobing and she walked over to the steaming pool. Her hands covered as much of her body as they could, but failing to cover even her breasts entirely. Luckily, Zin wasn't watching her, seeming to be more interested in making smoke rings upside down and watching them float off towards the ceiling. She stood staring into the water for a time before slowing reaching her foot in to dip her toe into the water. She jumped when her foot touched the water because to her icy skin, the water seemed like it should've been boiling. "Take it sloooow..." came Zin's rumbling drawl. Erayla paused, thinking for a moment, then sat down next to the pool, slipping her feet in slowly, resisting the urge to yank them out and let her frozen toes soak up the heat. A shiver ran up her legs and shook her spine with vigor, sending waves of goose bumps crawling across her bare skin. She slowly sank her calves in, followed by her thighs when she scooted her rump over the edge and splashed down into the hot water. The water was cloudy with minerals, preventing her from seeing the bottom or her feet touching the bottom.

The water came up to her chest and she had to push her breasts down to keep them from floating when she sat down on an underwater stump of rock. Erayla let out a long sigh; the water was unwinding her tense muscles slowly and gently. Warmth flooded her cold body and she immediately started sweating, salty droplets running down her face and dripping into the water. She glanced over at the troll in the bath with her, whose eyes were staring into the ceiling. "So….." She started.

Zin didn't take his eyes from the stony cavern's ceiling, "Hm? Whatchu wanna ask?"

She didn't answer right away, her gaze looking into the murky depths of the pool. "What's it like in a cartel?" She blurted slowly, not sure if asking this was the right thing to do at the moment.

Zin chuckled softly, sucking in his newly lit herb and blowing a cloud of smoke across the pool to her, "It's nothing too out of da ordinary, I suppose. The biggest ting fa me was havin people smalla den me orda me around." He chuckled again, "Tinkin bout dat, I'm still takin ordas from a human, but dis one disserves da respect… and da fear."

Erayla furrowed her brows at him, "The fear?"

"Dis woman is da scariest person I've eva met. She's ruthless to da tee, but she's got da biggest heart of anyone I've eva met, too. Or so I've heard." Zin began prodding something in his mouth with his tongue, his gaze shifted off into nothing, the image of swirling red hair blinking in and out of his vision.

The elf across from him chuckled uneasily, "Anything else that's not so scary?"

Zin's gaze broke and he looked up at her, "Huh? Oh, ya ya. Well as ya know, it's a cartel. Cartels sell just bout anyting dat's wort sellin. Anyting dat impedes progress or money is dealt wit swiftly. It's easy ta become addicted ta sometin when dere's so much of addictin stuff around ya." He noticed her quick glance to his pipe, "Haha, nah girl. Dis is just sometin to relax da muscles after so much movin. Ususally don't take dis when on break….. Ok, most of da time….. When it's quiet….."

Her half lidded gaze told him she wasn't buying it, "Zin, you have a problem."

"Shush. No, I don't have a problem. It keeps meh sane when I don't have anyting else to release ma stress." He puffed on the pipe some more and sighed.

"Like what?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you use other than that to release stress?"

Zin looked at her for a moment, gauging whether or not she truly didn't figure it out or if she was just baiting him into talking more, "Sex, sweet cheeks. Trolls are known for having quite an appetite for da activity." He laugh heartily when she had a surprised look on her face, "It's probably do to da short lifespan we have. Gotta get busy makin babies ta keep da species goin." Her 'yuuuu' sound made him break into laughter; the look on her face was priceless. "I'm sorry, girl. I'm mostly messin wit ya head dere. Couldn't help getting dat face outa ya. Was worth it, too." He chuckled harder when her blush grew deeper.

"Mean bastard…." She grumbled under her breath.

"Indeed I am sometimes, girly, but it's mostly in good taste. Now just relax and enjoy da bath." He sighed softly and let his head roll back to rest on the rock surface, his eyes closing.

Erayla didn't relax right away, but eventually felt her muscles unwind slowly and she finally let herself relax completely.

Minutes passed by slowly, making it seem like hours, but eventually Zin raised his head and looked at his skin, noticing he had been in the water a little too long. He splashed and started rising out of the water, sitting up against the wall and pulling his undergarments to him. After wrapping his loincloth around his waist, he flicked water over at Erayla to wake her up, "Time ta go, sweet cheeks." She groaned and slipped out of the water after he turned his back to her and started slipping on his armor.

After a few minutes they were both ready to leave and he let her take the lead on the way back to camp. Nothing was said between them, but neither was uncomfortable with the silence. Eventually the camp came into view and both stopped before coming into sight range or the two in camp. They stared at each other for a bit before a amused grin came over Erayla's face, "Race ya back to camp, _Troll._"

Without another word she sprinted off towards the camp. Zin chuckled, "Ya don't know who ya be challenging, elfy!" He called after her and sprinted off behind her.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it! Was planning on introducing a new character in this chapter, but it didn't work out so I gave you a hot tub scene instead to tease you. However, the next installment will have a new character to play with. ^_^


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